Greatest manager of all time?
July 13, 2011 15 Comments
Choosing the best footballer of all time. Easy. Ask a terrace full of football fans that question and half will answer you Pele, the other half Maradona, then toss a coin between the two. Neither answer would be controversial. One day in the near future Lionel Messi might join that shortlist, but for now it’s a pretty straight forward either or debate. Ask who is the greatest manager of all time however and you end up with a shortlist of at least 50.
A great player will always find their way to the top of the game, win the biggest prizes and deliver on the biggest stage, but for a manager it can be an all together different story. Sir Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Brian Clough nor Jose Mourinho have ever taken a team to a World Cup, the biggest prize of them all, in fact very few of the ‘greatest’ have, and them that have won the World Cup are still not regarded as legends of the game. Vincente Del Bosque, Luis Scolari and Aime Jacquet don’t make the shortlist of many as the best that history has to offer.
So what is the criteria by which you measure a managers ability? Do you measure success strictly in accordance with the number of trophies in the cabinet? If so Sir Alex Ferguson is probably your answer? Or do you push for the great one club men like Bob Paisley or Sir Matt Busby, who won everything the domestic game had to offer with the club they loved? Do you go for those who have proved they can succeed almost anywhere, with any club like Fabio Capello, Jose Mourinho and Giovanni Trapattoni? Do you give bonus points for the games great thinkers and tactical innovators like Rinus Michels, Johann Cruyff, Ernst Happel and Arsene Wenger? Do you look for a manager who built a club from nothing and created a legacy, an institution long after their passing, such as Bill Shankly at Liverpool and Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest? How do you quantify the success of someone like John Toshack, who took Swansea City from the 4th division of English football to the top flight in only four years and then went on to win La Liga with Real Madrid? You would find few who would give him a mention in the ‘all time’ greatest list, but his achievements deserve consideration.
Anyway, I’m not going to attempt to decide who is the ‘greatest manager of all time’. But, I would like to open up the debate and canvas comment and opinion. So here’s a shortlist of 10, with their achievements in no order other than alphabetical.
Please leave your thoughts and comments at the bottom of the page.
Sir Matt Busby
If club building scores highly than Sir Matt Busby is up there, for building up Manchester United, then rebuilding them after the Munich air disaster in which he nearly lost his own life. Busby laid the foundations for the success Manchester United currently enjoy, youth development, the expansion and improvement of Old Trafford and winning trophies. He also managed to enjoy spells as a player for Manchester United’s two greatest rivals, Liverpool and Manchester City.
Honours
European Cup x 1
English First Division x 5
FA Cup x 2
FA Charity Shield x 5
Brian Clough
If Brian Clough were making this list I’m sure there would be no debate as to who is the greatest. ’The best English manager, England never had’ made do with taking unknown clubs Derby County and Nottingham Forest from the depths of the Second Division to becoming champions of England. With Nottingham Forest he managed to win consecutive European Cups, the FA Cup always eluded him though, as well as the England job.
Honours
European Cup x 2
European Super Cup x 1
English First Division x 2
English League Cup x 4
FA Charity Shield x 1
English Second Division x 1
Inter League Cup x 1
Sir Alex Ferguson
After knocking over the Old Firm in Scotland, Sir Alex Ferguson headed south to take over the reins at Manchester United. In his 25 years in Lancashire, Manchester United have dominated English football in an era of success only matched by Liverpool’s in the 1970’s and 1980’s. A giant of football, Ferguson is desperate to add a third European Cup to his CV and cement his place as the most successful manager of all time.
Honours
Sir Alex Ferguson 'treble in 1999' of the FA Premier League, FA Cup & UEFA Champions League.
UEFA Champions League x 2
UEFA Cup Winners Cup x 2
FIFA World Club Cup x 2
European Super Cup x 2
FA Premier League x 12
Scottish Premier League x 3
FA Cup x 5
English League Cup x 4
FA Charity / Community Shield x 9
Scottish Cup x 4
Scottish League Cup x 1
Bella Guttman
Bella Guttman is credited with creating the ‘cult’ of the manager, pioneering the attacking 4-2-4 formation which heavily influenced the development of Portuguese and Brazilian football. He won successive European Cups with Benfica and is described as the ‘true special one’ by Jose Mourinho.
Bela Gutmann and Eusebio after capturing the 1960/61 European Cup.
Honours
European Cup x 2
Portuguese Primeira Liga x 3
Hungarian NBI League x 2
Portuguese Cup x 1
Hungarian Cup x 1
Sao Paulo State Championship x 1
Ernst Happel
Ernst Happel won the domestic league in 4 countries (Germany, Holland, Belgium & Austria) as well as winning 2 European Cups, with unfashionable Hamburg & Feyenoord. In 1978 he led Holland to the FIFA World Cup Final, where they narrowly lost in extra time to host nation Argentina.
Honours
UEFA European Cup x 2
Ernst Happel with the European Cup and Bundesliga trophy which he won with Hamburg 1982/83.
FIFA Intercontinental Cup x 1
German Bundesliga x 2
Dutch Eredivisie x 1
Belgian Pro League x 3
Austrian Bundesliga x 2
German Cup x 1
Dutch Cup x 1
Belgian Cup x 2
Belgian Super Cup x 1
Austrian Cup x 1
Rinus Michels
According to FIFA, Rinus Michels is the greatest of them all, being awarded the ‘coach of the century’ award in 1999, which naturally has only been won once. Michels is credited with the invention of one the greatest tactical innovations: total football – where each player is comfortable playing in any other players position, creating attacking, fast flowing football. This philosophy helped him guide the Dutch national team to winning the 1988 European Championships as well as narrowly losing the 1974 FIFA World Cup Final to host nation West Germany. Michels won domestic titles in Spain and Holland as well as winning the European Cup with Ajax in 1971.
Rinus Michels with the Henri Delaunay after winning the European Championships with Holland in 1988.
Honours
UEFA European Championships x 1
European Cup x 1
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup x 1
Spanish La Liga x 1
Dutch Eredivisie x 4
Spanish Cup x 1
Dutch Cup x 3
German Cup x 1
Jose Mourinho
‘The Special One’ is the ultimate tactician, winning every major prize Europe has to offer, on occasion with largely inferior teams. His 2004 UEFA Champions League win with FC Porto, who entered the tournament as 100/1 rank outsiders will go down as one of the tournaments major shocks.
Honours
UEFA Champions League x 2
UEFA Cup x 1
FA Premier League x 2
Portuguese Primeira Liga x 2
Italian Serie A x 2
F.A. Cup x 1
English League Cup x 2
FA Community Shield x 1
Portuguese Cup x 1
Portuguese Super Cup x 1
Italian Cup x 1
Italian Super Cup x 1
Spanish Cup x 1
Bob Paisley
Inherited the reins at Liverpool after Bill Shankly’s shock retirement in 1974, Bob Paisley is the only manager to win three European Cups, although he’s never been knighted for his achievements, something that rankles with many Liverpool fans to this day. In total Paisley spent 46 unbroken years at Anfield as player, physio, coach, assistant manager and manager winning every trophy available apart from the FA Cup.
Bob Paisley - The only manager to win '3' European Cups.
Honours
European Cup x 3
UEFA Cup x 1
European Super Cup x 1
English First Division x 6
English League Cup x 3
FA Charity Shield x 5
Bill Shankly
“My idea was to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility. Napoleon had that idea. He wanted to conquer the bloody world. I wanted Liverpool to be untouchable. My idea was to build Liverpool up and up until eventually everyone would have to submit and give in.” Bill Shankly took Liverpool from the bottom of the Second division and established them as one of the best teams in the country winning 3 league titles, 2 FA Cups and a UEFA Cup. The colossal achievements of his successor Bob Paisley owe everything to the foundation that Shankly built.
Honours
UEFA Cup x 1
English First Division x 3
FA Cup x 2
FA Charity Shield x 4
English Second Division x 1
Jock Stein
Managed the first British side to ever win the European Cup, when his Celtic team achieved the feat in 1967, with a team of entirely home grown players. All of the starting XI had been born in Glasgow, even Barcelona can’t compete with that statistic. He also won 9 consecutive Scottish League titles as well as 15 domestic cups. He spent 45 days in England managing Leeds United, only one day more than Brian Clough managed.
Honours
European Cup x 1
Scottish League x 10
Scottish Cup x 9
Scottish League Cup x 6
I would really appreciate your comments below on who you think is the greatest and what criteria we should look at. Let’s open up the debate.
About oreillyskills
Booked for Dissent 
Maybe this should be titled greatest British manager of all time, there is a world outside the UK you know
4 of the 10 I profiled are non UK. Naturally there will be some home nation bias, although I did say that I don’t see this as any sort of definitive list.
Could have easily looked at 50 managers.
I’m looking to open the debate, not force any opinions.
Out of interest who would you have in there then?
Helenio Herrera?
No legends from the Italian game or South America? Or from prior to the late 50s?
Good list but really i’d delve deeper to make it definitive and be a little less Anglo-centric.
If I had extended the list to 20 I would have certainly included Herrar, Sacchi, Capello and Trapattoni and Miguel Munoz..
My knowledge of South American domestic football is limited and I’ve generally gone for managers who’ve achieved in the domestic sphere.
Brian Clough? Yet no Bobby Robson or Alf Ramsey. Also why not managers such as Luis Cubilla from South America? The list is a bit predictable really, if you really wanted to look at managers who had a huge impact on the game and wanted to demonstrate a bit more imagination then look no further than Jack Reynolds or Jimmy Hogan.
I only went with 10. 10 that I know of, that I feel have really achieved everything at the top of the game. Naturally British and European football are going to feature highly in that as it’s the football I follow. I didn’t want to write one of those exhaustive pieces looking at 50 or 100 managers. Like I mention at the start of the article, my shortlist was huge. I had to cut it down from 50 to 10, although admittedly Jimmy Hogan and Jack Reynolds weren’t on that list. You will have to educate me on their achievements.
Clough won 2 European Cups, with a side that will never win one again. The equivalent we are unlikely to ever see again: taking a side from the lower reaches of the second division to become English and European champions in a few years. He also took Derby from the bottom of the second division and won the 1st division with them, reaching the semi finals of the European Cup, narrowly losing to Juventus and lots I’ve read suggests the game was well and truely bent.
Well written! Ahh it’s so hard to pick a manager but seeing as I support Liverpool iT has to be shankly 🙂 hey it’s not his fault the greatest managers are British!! Follow me on twitter @mamzzz21
Thank’s. Already following. Cheers buddy.
No World Cup winner?
Obviously I would have liked to have squeezed Sir Alf Ramsey or Marcelo Lippi in the list.
Who are you suggesting?
was considering Beckenbauer. but after some thought, can’t say he deserves to be in here
Why can I say?!
Yuma, Yuma, Yuma for a start!
Nice read, you are leaning quickly – very informative, well written and balanced!
It passed the toilet time very quickly!
I’m leaning very quickly? What does that mean.
ignore him, it’s just spam. look at his name
Great blog, good detail.
Would have been interesting to see a less Euro-centric approach and maybe a few managers who have had success internationally.
I will look out for your future blogs. Keep it up